Learn to fly: Rest of the series page
This page is for the rest of the Learn to Fly series! Hope you like! The name's Engine. BCEngine. (talk) 01:01, July 1, 2013 (UTC) Chapter 4 The first step of the journey had been done. What is left to do? Indi thought. Naio slowly stepped closer to the mist wolf. "What should we do next? Where do we go?" The mist wolf raised a paw to the north. "The mountains are in that direction. But it will take a very long time to get there. rough terrain is ahead. And I sense that some very dry weather is coming. There are many dangers on the way. But with each other," The mist wolf paused and looked at the two, "You will go straight through the danger with ease. And it's worth it." "Thank you, mist wolf." Indi said, lookimg at the floating wolf. The mist wolf chuckled. "Please," He said, "Call me by my name, Elroy." Then he dissapeared without a trace. The two wolves turned to look at the north. They could see some flat terrain, but they could also see steep hills. It was as if the land was thrown into chaos. "We'd better be going now." Indi said. Naio agreed. "Yes, we should. But it's summer, and you know how hot summer can be on that plain. The NoShade plain they call it. There are no trees at all." "We'll travel across for a day and a night. Then when the day comes again we'll sleep, and then at night we will travel when it is cooler." Indi said. Naio nodded. "It is considerably cooler at night. But we have to be careful. I know that there are grass snakes there, and some have a bite with a poison that makes it more painful than it already is." Indi gulped and the two treked northward. The wolves were hot, tired but triumphant in their trek across NoShade. They had gone a day and a night, and now as the dawn broke through they found a sufficiant ditch to sleep in. "Rememer," Naio said to Indi, "If one of us wakes up at nightfall, wake the other one up immidiately." The two nestled in the ditch and slept soundly. But suddenly, a harsh hissing woke up Naio. The red she-wolf looked up, frozen in her tracks. A long, powerful looking snake was looking at them with dark, beady eyes. Other snakes just like him were beside him. Naio shook Indi awake, and the two stood there, looking at the group of snakes staring at them. The one in front of the group opened his mouth, revealing two sharp, deadly fangs. He hissed at them in a smooth, liquidy voice, "Why have you tresspasssssst in our territory, wolvessss?" Indi gulped and said, "We didn't know this was your ditch. We truly didn't!" "Pah!" A younger snake said, slithering up beside the group leader. "These wolvessss were invading our nesssst, thatsss what!" "Shut up! the wolvesssss are fine. Their heartsss are whole!" The leader shoved the other snake away with his tail. "You ssssay you didn't know. We beleive you. We know your good wolves. We sssee you are on you way to the mountainsss." "How do you know that?" Naio asked. The snake replied, "We ssense these thingsss. A few months ago another sssnake group's nessst was accidentally taken by a wolf going to the mountainsss. This has happened many timessss before, but we are one of the newer groups. Anyway, if the wolvesss that invade growl or attack ussss, we know they are bad and don't belong in NoShade. And you did not growl or attack usss." "Of course we won't." Indi said. "You're poisonous." "Yesss, we are. But bad wolves are ssso ignorant and think of us as puny and weak. They don't know we are poisonous. And that'sss how we know when a wolf isss good or bad. And you wolves have had a hard trek, haven't you?" "Yes." Replied both wolves at the same time. "Well," The snake said, "You can stay in our nessst for today. But only today. You must hurry if you want to get to the mountainssss. Many ssstormsss blow through here. They can get very violent at timess." "Thank you all so much," Indi said." "Think nothing of it," The snake replied, slithering in with his group. The two wolves moved so that there was room for the snake group. "Just rest up. You have much more to do tonight." And as the two wolves fell asleep again, Indi was touched by the snakes' kindness. Chapter 5 A small, young snake slithered onto Indi's belly, which was upright. She had a habit of turning belly up in her sleep. Indi woke up to the feeling of the snake on her belly. The snake said, "Wake up! It is dussssk." The snake then slithered a little more on her stomach, and another snake did the same to Naio. Both wolves laughed as the snakes crawled around on them in smooth motions. "Come now, you to! Get off of them. They have to leave now and they can't with you on them." It was the lead snake. As the two wolves stood up and shook themselves after the snakes slithered off, they heard a faint rumbling. "A ssstorm is coming. You'd besssst get going now." After the wolves bit farewell to the snakes, they continued running north. "We're making good time," Naio said as the wind began to pick up. "I can feel it." Suddenly, they were hit by a sudden blast of wind.thunder and lightning scoured the sky and yet there was no rain. It was a dry storm, a common thing in the plains. In a dry storm there is ususally no rain or rain comes sometime much later. A sudden lightning flash touched the ground very close to the two, and they shrieked in fear. The grass was alight, fiery tongues licking the night. The fire spread rapidly and soon the two wolves were trying desperately to put it out. They saw snakes fleeing their home, but one snake that looked freshly hatched was tangled up in some grass, struggling to get free as the fire surrounded it. The snake family was hissing in sorrow, for they could to nothing about it. Without thinking, Indi leaped the flames, slightly singing her fur, diving for the baby snake. Chapter 6 "INDI!" Screamed Naio. No... ''She thought, ''No, I can't loose her. She's my only friend. I can't loose her after... ''Her cunning, terrible family had cast her out for letting a young fawn free. Her family was a pack of banished wolves, outcasts. She managed to urinate on the fire, but that barely helped. she couldn't put it out with dry grass, that would make it worse. So she began digging frantically, flinging wet soil upon the fire. She kept digging even though she was exausted. She doused a couple of flames. ''For Indi! ''She thought. In the circle of heat and flame, Indi bent down near the baby snake. She could hardly breathe from all the smoke. And the baby snake was gasping for air now. "Don't worry! I'll get you out!" Indi said to the snake. With a shaking claw, she untangled the grass. Scooping the snake up gently in her mouth as if it was a whelping pup, and with vision blurred, Indi leaped through a wall of flame. The smell of singed fur filled the air. The baby snake was okay, and it was happily reunited with its family. But the tip of Indi's tail was on fire. Yowling, she beat it in some moist soil. It was out, but the fur was completely burned off at the tip. Pink, burned skin showed and to Indi it still felt as if it was alight. Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder split Naio's ears and rain began to pour. The fire was completely doused, and the rain made Indi's tail hurt a little less. Still, the skin was puckered and raw and Indi looked rediculus. "Indi! Don't ever do that again!" Naio came over and began to lick the burned skin. "I though I had lost you." "Well, I'm still here. And as for not doing it again, we'll have to see." Even though she made an almost cheerfull joke she grunted with pain. "Come on," Naio said, seizing in her rapid licking. "We have to move, rain or not." The two ran on, over hills and across plains. When the rain stopped, it was already morning. They had not stopped for the clouds were covering the sun. When the two went to sleep it began to get hotter and hotter and more sticky as the dew dissapeared. After a few more nights of running, the wolves began to climb what they though was the steepest hill in NoShade. When they reached the top, the two of them gasped. In the very, very far off distance, they could see the mountains. With the moon shining it was easy to see. Howling with joy, the wolves slam pawed so many times their pads began to hurt. All of a sudden, the mist wolf named Elroy appeared. He looked different at night, almost like a glowing wolf-shaped orb of light. "The second step is done," He said, "But you still have a ways to go." "What's next?" Asked Indi, glancing breifly at her burned tail. "You must run. Run through the night and into the day. Just let your hearts fly, and run fast. Many more mountain like hills await you. But if you just run down this hill, you will feel like you're flying. Imagine, in your mind's eye, that wings are growing from your back." And at that, Elroy dissapeared. The two stepped back a bit, then with all their remaining strength they thrusted themselves down the hill. Indi ''did ''feel like she was flying. The wolves were running so fast they barely felt their paws touch the ground. And at the first mountain hill they came to, they ran up the hil land then ran down in two dazzling leaps. But another danger was still on the horizon. Chapter 7 "I can barely get up the hill!" "We'll make it! Don't give up!" The wind had been blowing so hard at times it felt like shards of glass were shredding the two wolve's pelts. The icy rain didn't help either, and Indi's tail stung. The wind came from every direction. The wind shoved them back whenever they stepped foward. "When we get to the bottom," Naio shouted over the shreiking wind, "The hill will block out some of the wind and we can rest." Finally, they made it between two towering hills. They dug a small pit and waited for the nearly unbearable gusts to die down. "I don't think it will die completely. It probably will, but only for a moment. It might come back to life." Indi said. Naio laughed. "Like the walking dead. On Fang Night our pack would gather by a small fire made by the Enchanter and tell scary stories of the walking dead." Fang Night was the night when the packs celebrated autumn, and would color their fur by rubbing things like bark and dandilions on their pelts. They would also take ink made by the pack's enchanter and draw symbols on their faces. But Naio sighed. "But all of that is a distant memory." Indi spoke up. "Can you tell me your story?" "My story?" "Yes. The story of how you got away from your pack." "My pack was a very kind one, one of the good packs. Our Alpha was firm but fair and had a good sense of humor. But the Deputy was aweful.she'd get into a lot of trouble with the Alpha for hurting others and was almost dropped from her rank." Indi nearly gasped. To be dropped from a rank was the worst humiliation a wolf could ever endure. If one did something terrible or had done something bad over and over, they would be dropped from their rank. They would immediately become an Omega and would have to rise slowly in the ranks all over again. If an Omega was dropped from a rank they would become outcasts, and they would have to try and rejoin in another pack. Naio continued, "But when the Alpha died, the deputy simply didn't mind. It was as if his death was so invisible to her. As if the Alpha evaporated into this air from his throne and she could just simply move and set her rump right on it. The Deputy simply announced while we were greiving for him, "I am the new Alpha of this pack! After your worthless greiving you can come here and submit to me." That was how our pack turned evil. She threatened us with death if we didn't obey her. When we were out hunting, she said for me to take down a fawn next to the mother deer we were hunting. I did so, tackling the fawn to the ground. But then I realized it was against wolf law to kill a mother deer or her fawn. Otherwize the deer will not reproduce and there would be no more to eat. So I let it go, much to the mother's delight. As they bounded off I knew I had done good, but the Alpha began to beat me. She said, "You wretched cur! You let it go! I ought to rip your eyes out and leave you sightless!" She took me back to camp and announced me a worthless pack member. She banished me from the pack and after I ran for some time, I settled down in a ditch." "And then you met Elroy." Indi said. "Yes." Naio felt lighter, as if telling her friend had lifted the weight of her pack off her chest. "The wind has died down," Indi said, "But it could turn around and come back stronger." "Let's go. We'll run as fast as we can." When they began to pick up speed, the wind did come back. And ''way ''stronger. The wolves couldn't see where they were going; it was as if the world had turned into a wet, cold and grey void sucking them in. Gusty winds batted at their ears and blinded them. "I.... I can't go on, Indi!" Gasped an exausted Naio. "Me neither," Indi replied. "We can't dig a pit! It's too wet!" "Then we'll huddle together!" Naio said. Bunching up together, the two tried to keep warm. They were cold, tired and starving. ''We're not just going to make it to Haldan, ''Indi thought, ''We're not going to make it alive. ''They were going to die and they knew it. All of a sudden, the two wolves saw what looked like an enormous bird. "What is that?" Indi asked. "It looks like an eagle." "No, it has four legs and a tail." Naio said. The thing swooped down effortlessly. It ran up to them. It was a wolf, but with it's wings stretching out and blocking the wind. It looked at them with deep, assuring amber eyes. "You are going to be alright." It said. Indi and Naio gasped. It was a winged wolf of Haldan. Chapter 8 The winged wolf blocked the gusts with his wings. Indi and Naio could not move. They couldn't take their eyes off of this wolf. "My name," The winged wolf said, "Is Sylon. I am the Deputy and Hylm of Haldan." He was a brindled colored wolf, with swirlings of tawny fur. His wings were a dark brown. "Hylm?" Naio and Indi were puzzled. "The word "Hylm," My friends, means "One of guidance." I teach youngsters like you." "I assume you are going to the mountains," Sylon said. "Y-yes," Replied Indi, "But we can't find it. It's too windy." "I will take you there. It's not far, and I am with others." He swept a wing behind him where two other wolves stood. They had a hammock made of woven moss gripped in their paws. "Now, hop in the hammock, young'uns." Sylon said, "You can't fly yet, so we have to carry you up." Indi and Naio lied down in the hammock, and the wolves holding it began to lift off. Soon, they were in the sky, and the storm seemed to seize. The air felt warmer and smoother and the sun peeked out of the clouds. Indi turned to Sylon. "How did you know we were there?" "The Mountain Alphas feel it in their marrow. They send us out to scout and look for any oncomers. And then we take them here." With a graceful downstroke he flew in front. Indi and Naio were gripped with excitement. The clouds cleared, the blue sky shimmered and the sun grew bright. Looking down, they saw four lakes at the base of the mountain. A small waterfall comming from the mountain gave the lakes their water. A stream must be running from inside the mountain, Thought Indi. Trees of all types spread across the land. But when the two wolves looked up, their eyes opened wide. There, towering over them, were the three mountains: Yemling, Gildhilp, and the biggest of all, Haldan. Hills surrounded the mountains like a wall. They swooped down and headed for a ledge leading to a tunnel of some sort. As they passed a peticularly large tree, they saw a wolf standing on a branch, it's wings fanned out. It smiled at the two wolves, and then howled a call. The wolf howled, "New arrivals! New arrivals! Alert the Alphas." A chorous of hellos and welcomes came from below. Then, all at once, lots of winged wolves began to howl welcomes. two guards in metal armor flew down and led them to a large cave smack in the middle of Haldan. The two carrying the hammock set them down and flew off. Indi and Naio stood up. The guards then led them inside the cave. It was the most biggest cave they had ever seen. The ceiling was hundreds, nearly thousands of feet away, and the width of the cave was extraordinary. Many wingless wolves were on the floor of the cave, carrying baskets of some sort. The two also saw some of them carrying prey, like deer and moose, even elk. But at the end of the massive cave, standing on a bed of pelts, were two large wolves wearing a necklace of bones. They both had cream and grey pelts, but one of them had amber eyes and the other had green. They looked at them with a gentle smile. It was the Alphas of Haldan. Chapter 9 "Come forth, young ones. Welcome to the mountains." The Alpha Female said, smiling. Immediately after they came up in front of them they began to submit to them. "Your editquie is very nice, but not neccisary." The Alpha said, his deep voice thrumming. The two wolves rose up. ''How come everyone is saying we don't need to submit to them? It's not wolf-like at all. ''Indi thought. The Alpha spoke again. "I am Jasper, and this is my mate, Sivling." "Hello... um.... Your Majesties, I'm Naio, and this is Indi." Naio said. The Alphas laughed a bit, and then spread their wings. "Please, none of this formality for now. We will show you to your den. It's on Gildhilp,so we will lead you through that tunnel," Sivling pointed to a rather large tunnel leading to Gildhilp, "So we will lead you there." They padded into the tunnel, where they saw very large sticks on the walls. these sticks were topped with fire, with made Naio and Indi nervous. Indi's tail drooped a bit instinctively. Sivling nodded to one of these fire sticks. "I see you've noticed our torches. You have to reason to worry, for we have learned to tame fire for other uses. And no need worry about your tail," She nodded to Indi, "The Medics will take care of that." Indi guessed that the Medics were wolves that cared for sick and wounded wolves. The wolves reached the end of the tunnel, and Indi gasped. So did Naio. The bottom of the mountain was completely hollow, and hundreds of wolves were fying and running everywhere. The Alphas led them through yet another tunnel, but one that went up. Through a winding passageway they finally found their den. It was a rather large one, with an opening in the front where they could step out onto a sturdy ledge. A cream and gold wolf was already in the den. She smiled. Sivling introduced the wolf. "Naio and Indi, meet Marachy. Marachy, meet Indi and Naio! I'm sure you'll become great friends." "Now, you wolves rest up," Jasper said, "The eagles will be in any moment with some meat and a nice drink. A berry mix, I think." "Berry mix? Eagles?" Indi was puzzled. Jasper answered her. He said, "Sometimes, if eagles do not like to live in solitude they come here and help serve the wolves. And the berry mix is a stirring of mashed up blueberies and cherry juice. Very good." "Wait, you treat the eagles like slaves?" Naio gasped. "Oh no, dear. The eagles choose to serve us. They are solitary creatures, but always tend to other's needs. When they feel like there's nobody to help, they come to us. That way, things go a lot smoother around here." Sivling tipped her muzzle to the air. "I smell Carry coming. We have to go. Eat, rest, and prepare to come down when the bell sounds. You'll know when to come when you hear a deep gong noise. Now, we'll see you at dinner!" The Alphas left, and Marachy spoke now. "Hello!" She said, "Call me Mara." "Hi!" Indi said. She looked down and saw a large spreading of pelts, downy fluff, feathers and moss. She and Naio lied down on the pelts, as did Mara. "I wonder when we'll get our wings," Naio mused, picking up a grey feather. "The Alphas told me," Mara spoke up, "That you have to be picked for a certain class. Then you take a bunch of other classes, and then you do the Big Leap. I'm not sure what that is, though. But after the Big Leap, you'll have your wings. And then you learn to fly." A dreamy look took over their eyes, but the dreams popped as a large shadow cast across the room. It was Carry, the eagle that had come to serve them. "My, my," She said, "Look at you two. You're half starved! Here, now. I have some nice berry mix and some elk for all three of you." She set a tray down in front of them. The berry mix was in wooden bowls. "Go ahead and eat, young ones," Carry said, "And I'll tend to your fur." She walked over to the two wolves and began running her beak through their pelts. ''She's preening us! But we're not birds. ''So Indi guessed it was called grooming. She had been groomed very little in her pack. Carry spoke now, while grooming the two. "What are your names?" "Indi and Naio," Indi said, chewing the meat and lapping up the berry mix. "Well, Indi and Naio, I beleive you've met Mara. I've treated her for weeks. She had the worst cuts and scrapes on her, let me tell you! I'm glad to be your den maid. I know how to treat any wound, and it looks like I need a trip to the Medics to find herbs for this." She gestured to Indi's tail, and Indi felt embarrassed. Carry sensed this. "Oh, don't worry, child." She said kindly, "I had the same problem as you when half of my wing caught fire. The Medics worked endlessly until my feathers grew back." She outstretched a wing and pointed to a spot on her wing. Indi looked closely and saw that the feathers were thinner and of lighter color than the rest. She felt better knowing someone knew what happened to her. The three wolves and the eagle talked and slept until they heard gongs. They seemed to roll through the whole mountain. "Ah, I must be going now." Carry spread her wings. "I must serve in the dining den once more. See you there!" Carry took the tray and the bowls and flew off. After a while another series of gongs shook them awake once more. They smelled something... hot, but not burning. They went down the narrow passegeway and throug hthe tunnel that led to Haldan. The wolves were filling into a tunnel, and the three wolves followed. At the end of the tunnel, they smelled things that made their stomach growl. "You know," Naio tunred to Mara, "I think we will become good friends. I mean, look at us. We've all been abused and scarred." "Yes, I think we will." Indi said, smiling. She thought everything was going to be perfect. ''No, not "Perfect." ''She knew that whatever happened it will not be exactly, "perfect" ''More coming soon! Category:Fanfiction Category:BCEngine